BILL NUMBER: ACR 135	CHAPTERED  09/05/00

	RESOLUTION CHAPTER   122
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   SEPTEMBER 5, 2000
	ADOPTED IN SENATE   AUGUST 24, 2000
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY   MAY 30, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   MAY 9, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   APRIL 4, 2000

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Wesson

                        FEBRUARY 25, 2000

   Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 135--Relative to state employee
merit awards.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   ACR 135, Wesson.  State employee merit awards.
   This measure would request that merit award payments, authorized
by the Department of Personnel Administration, be made to specified
individuals whose proposals have resulted in annual savings and net
revenue gain to the state.




   WHEREAS, Section 19823 of the Government Code authorizes the
Department of Personnel Administration to make awards to current or
retired state employees who propose procedures or ideas that are
subsequently adopted and placed in effect that will result in
eliminating or reducing state expenditures or improving state
operations; and
   WHEREAS, Any award granted under Section 19823 of the Government
Code that is larger than five thousand dollars ($5,000) must be
approved by concurrent resolution of the Legislature; and
   WHEREAS, Flood fighting along California's rivers often involves
the placement of wave wash slope protection that generally consists
of plastic sheeting anchored to a levee slope to minimize the erosion
of the levee; and
   WHEREAS, During the floods of 1996 and 1997, the Department of
Water Resources encountered difficulties in obtaining grommets needed
to anchor the plastic sheeting to levee slopes and these grommets
are no longer available; and
   WHEREAS, The grommets now commercially available are smaller,
difficult to use, and in some cases, ineffective with the 10
millimeter thick plastic sheeting recommended for slope protection;
and
   WHEREAS, William R. Forsythe suggested that the Department of
Water Resources design its own grommet mold and have grommets
manufactured from the mold so that the suitable grommets could be
produced on short notice; and
   WHEREAS, The Chief of the Flood Protection and Geographic
Information Branch, Central District, and the Division of Flood
Management approved the idea and authorized Mr. Forsythe to research
and design the grommet; and
   WHEREAS, The Department of Water Resources, by using its own
grommet mold, was able to produce grommets at approximately 4.44
cents each; in contrast, purchase orders for the 1997-98 fiscal year
documented the costs of comparable grommets at 25 cents each; and
   WHEREAS, The Department of Water Resources constructed a grommet
mold and produced 300,000 grommets in 1998 and 200,000 of those
grommets were utilized during the 1998 floods; the remaining grommets
were stored and are available for use for future floods; and
   WHEREAS, The department realized a first-year savings of
sixty-eight thousand five hundred eighty-two dollars ($68,582) based
on the cost for 300,000 grommets if purchased from a private vendor
less the cost of the department to manufacture 300,000 grommets; and
   WHEREAS, As a result of these savings, it is unnecessary to
appropriate funds for payment of the award to Mr. Forsythe; and
   WHEREAS, The Department of Justice annually fingerprints without
charge approximately 21,000 people, including applicants for the
State Bar, real estate licenses, and school teacher credentials; and
   WHEREAS, This free service has been staffed by fingerprint
employees who were kept from their work of processing fingerprints,
and the Department of Justice was the only public agency in
Sacramento providing this service without charge; and
   WHEREAS, The charging of ten dollars ($10) per person would fund
approximately six new positions to help eliminate the backlog of
fingerprint searches; and
   WHEREAS, Ray Hefley suggested that the Department of Justice
charge ten dollars ($10) for this service; the Department of Justice
accepted Ray Hefley's suggestion for evaluation, evaluated it, and
implemented it; and
   WHEREAS, This suggestion was approved by the Chief of the Bureau
of Identification, the Department of Justice Merit Award Coordinator,
and the State Merit Award Board for a twenty-one thousand dollar
($21,000) award based on yearly revenues of two hundred ten thousand
dollars ($210,000).  As a result of these revenues, it is unnecessary
to appropriate funds for payment of the award to Mr. Hefley; now,
therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby declares that merit
award payments, authorized by the Department of Personnel
Administration, are hereby made to William R.  Forsythe in the amount
of six thousand eight hundred fifty-eight dollars ($6,858) and to
Raymond L. Hefley in the amount of twenty-one thousand dollars
($21,000); and be it further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the Controller and the Department of Personnel
Administration.
